The Manila Ocean Park (MOP) welcomed the year of the Water Rabbit and Lunar New Year with an exhibit featuring the ‘Lucky Rabbitfish’ which showcased 388 rabbitfishes in a special tank inside the Oceanarium.
MOP marketing head Marianne Carlos said the rabbitfishes are called as such because of their rabbit-like snouts and they are considered as the “Chinese New Year Fish” because their reproductive season is during the New Moon or Lunar New Year.
Diving with the rabbitfishes was MOP’s ‘Underwater Prosperity God’ who fed them using a special feeding ring shaped like the number 8. The said number symbolizes fortune, good luck and prosperity, Carlos added.
Meantime, Mary Joyce Arias-Tarroza , VP for Sales & Marketing, told the media that the exhibit can be seen any day of the week, as MOP is open daily from 10 a.m, to 6 p.m., even on holidays.
Tarroza said MOP is the country’s first world-class marine themed park and that since it opened in 2008, it has evolved to be the metro’s holiday destination, an integrated urban resort with premier marine-life attractions, an aqua-themed boutique hotel, and dining establishments.
“Moreover, as a premier educational facility and stewards of marine biodiversity, MOP plays an important role in the protection of the marine environment by way of its educational exhibits and various research activities conducted in the facility,” she added.
